By MICHELLE BEAHM
mbeahm@soundpublishing.com

KINGSTON — Richard Jesse Watson visited Wolfle Elementary School on March 10, and it was “awesome.”

At least, that’s how the students who attended his assemblies felt.

Watson is an author and illustrator from Port Townsend; his 14 books include Clement C. Moore’s “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas,” “The High Rise Glorious Skittle Skat Roarious Sky Pie Angel Food Cake” and his own “The Magic Rabbit.”

He often takes the time to visit schools for interactive assemblies with  students, during which he talks about his creative process, how he comes up with his characters, and the steps he takes to create the illustrations in his books. He then invites the students to spend time drawing their own characters.

He hosted three assemblies at Wolfle Elementary, one for first- and second-graders, one for third- and fourth-graders, and one for fifth-graders. He also held a short presentation for kindergartners.

“I love to encourage kids to express themselves through poetry or writing or art or sculpture or music or whatever,” Watson said.

“Sometimes, you have to express something, and if you can express it verbally, that’s great. But some kids aren’t able to articulate what they’re going through, either their struggles or their pain or their dreams. But drawing … is just kind of an effective way to help them process reality.”

Watson works primarily on children’s books, enjoying the opportunity to “make literature accessible to kids.”

He added, “Kids are my peeps. I just like to see their enthusiasm.”

Wolfle librarian Kathee McNeely-Mobley said elementary schools in the North Kitsap School District frequently host author visits. This assembly, funded by the Northwest Literacy Foundation, the school and the PTA, was the first interactive one at this school.

McNeely-Mobley said author assemblies are important for students because “it’s wonderful for them to see normal people doing things that they might not have thought that they could do.”

“Any kids, all kids, the more experiences they have, the wider their outlook is, the more capable they feel themselves, the more they’re going to take a risk … try something themselves,” she said.

Learning specialist Stephanie Pugh added, “It gives the kids the opportunity to see where their ideas can go, and that … there’s no right or wrong answers when it comes to writing a story or drawing pictures.”

The students drew a variety of things, from pterodactyls to gingerbread men, from SpongeBob to radioactive spiders.

“They have the freshest thinking in the world, young people,” Watson said. “That’s why I do it.”

Watson said that pressure to get students to excel in science and math has resulted in art being “kind of drained out of the schools.”

But he feels that science, math, drawing and writing can co-exist.

“There’s so much creativity that can cross-pollinate between genres,” he said, “and a lot of great scientists had multiple disciplines, like Leonardo da Vinci.”

Watson said he loves to encourage creativity in children and adults.

At the assemblies, many of the students said their favorite part was getting to draw.

“Kids need a lot of compassion and understanding, but also opportunities to explore and express themselves,” Watson said. “This is one of the best ways of doing that.”